I think I just became a Boston Celtics fan.
Don't get me wrong, being from Indiana, I still get an eye twitch about Boston-area sports teams (yes, I'm looking at you, New England Patriots). But the response from Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla to a race-baiting reporter from Yahoo News is enough for me to hope he wins every game he coaches from this point forward.
With his team in the NBA Finals, the league expects Mazzulla to give a press conference on every "off-day" between games. It was at Saturday's conference that Vince Goodwill of Yahoo decided to pipe up with a question only progressive media writers seem to care about these days. Mazzulla's response was an instant classic:
Goodwill: Hey Joe, Vince Goodwill, Yahoo Sports. For the first time since 1975, this is the NBA Finals where you have two black head coaches. Uh, given the plight sometimes of black coaches in the NBA, do you think this is a significant moment? Do you take pride in this? How do you view this or do you not see it at all?
Mazzulla: Wonder how many of those are, or have been Christian coaches?
(awkward silence)
Voice off camera: David Alrich (next reporter in line for question)?
Listen to that silence. Seriously, go back and listen to it.
Goodwill had nothing to say in reply and no one else dared offer any follow-ups. They just went on to the next reporter, perhaps hoping they would ask a question that actually pertained to the massive sporting event these "journalists" were supposed to be covering.
But let's go back to Mazzulla's response. The coach himself never specified or clarified precisely the meaning or implications of his words. And in fairness, given that they could mean a couple of different things, that might explain the awkward silence after his response.
But the simplest explanation is that Mazzulla was pointing out the arbitrary nature of Goodwill's question. Why ask about race? A coach's race has no bearing whatsoever on the athletic abilities of the players or their preparation for the finals. So Mazzulla's point might easily have been, "Why ask about race rather than say, a different arbitrary category like faith?"
If Goodwill (or anyone) responded by saying to Mazzulla, "It doesn't matter if a coach is Christian or not," the point is made: "it also doesn't matter if a coach is black or not, so why are we wasting time talking about this?"
Of course, it's also possible that Mazzulla was pointing out that the media has its own narrative that they are interested in talking about - racial politics. It has long been observed that many in sports media are either washed up, or wannabe political journos who haven't made it in that competitive field. Sports writing became the fallback plan, and many are still desperate to make the transition. That desperation has led to an epidemic of "woke sports" hot takes by political activists hoping to make a big enough splash that CNN, MSNBC, or the Washington Post notices them.
If that seems unlikely to you, just note that even after Mazzulla's dismissive rebuke, Goodwill proceeded to write a 1,500 word article on the struggle of black coaches. In other words, this was never an article about Mazzulla, it was never an article about the NBA Finals, it was never an article aimed at those who care about the Celtics, Mavericks, or sports at all.
Goodwill had probably already written the entire piece before even walking into that press conference. He was merely looking for a quote or two to supplement his political essay.
In his and other sports media figures' pursuit of what they see as a "higher calling," we are all continually treated to the intrusion of politics (and even worse, racial politics) into the one area so many of us go to escape the outrage machine: sports.
